While the german version N#MMER already launched, the english version will be available soon in September 2015 and the worldwide first magazine for people with ADHD and autism edited and written by concerned people themselves. You’ll read interviews with Temple Grandin and Sascha Lobo and…

a text about 47,XXY as symptomes of ADD/ADHD as well as autism are more prevalent in people with 47,XXY. In my opinion, the magazine covers a lot of difficulties concerning the behavior of people with 47,XXY. I had light bulb moments in nearly every text. As I wrote my text for N#MMER in October 2014, I didn’t have such profound knowledge about 47,XXY, and I looked for proof for any statement in the article. It’s the reason for which the text might have appeared in a school’s magazine rather and is clearly different compared with the other texts. Anyway, I hope I could raise awareness towards the characteristics of Klinefelter/47,XXY. American self-support organisations (like AXYS) assume that a certain number of people with 47,XXY is present among people with autism and ADHD.

To clarify: 47,XXY =/= autism spectrum disorders! The prevalence for autism (and ADHD) is significantly enhanced but far away from 100 % (rather between 10 and 30 % for autism).

Autism Spectrum Disorders and 47,XXY:

Figure 1: The diagram shows the results of the Social Responsiveness Score (SRS) measuring the degree of autistic traits.

Figure 2: The result of the ADI-R test of autism in the three core domains. The horizontal line depicts the threshold value for clinical relevance, the points mark the individual persons with 47,XXY.

10 persons lied above the cut-off in all domains, 11 persons in 2 domains and 13 in one domain. 17 persons were below the cut-off in all domains. The most prevalent domain has been communication (domain 2), the rarest domain has been stereotype behavior (domain 3). Altogether 27 % of people with 47,XXY fulfilled the diagnose criteria for autism spectrum disorder.

Tartaglia et al. (2012) states that the quiet subtype of ADHD (also called ADD, without hyperactivity and impulsivity) is dominant in 47,XXY.

Speculating:

People with autism who reveal less symptoms of domain 3 (rocking, flapping, obsessive behavior, mainstream special interests) may be easily overlooked (-> high number of unknown cases in girls and women as well as ‚quiet‘ boys and men).

About 90 % of media reports about attention-deficit disorders deal with hyperactive and impulsive behavior although only 10 % of all tests confirm this diagnose. 30 % of all diagnoses present the inattentive subtype with quiet, non-disturbing dreamers. (the remaining 60 % present the combined type), source: http://weltsichtig.de/typisch-adhs-aber-halo/

Thus there is a large number of unknown cases, again in girls and women with ADD but also quiet boys and men).

If the phenotype of 47,XXY is similar to that of females with ADD and/or autism, both neurologic conditions will be discovered more infrequently in 47,XXY (boys with 47,XXY are often described as shy, passive and quiet).

Result:

Therefore it is important to use any opportunity to address these potential secondary diagnoses as therapeutical approaches, national support and accomodations are much better for people with ADHD and/or autism than for people with a diagnose „Klinefelter syndrome“. Moreover, addressing the hormone deficit is not sufficient to treat all side-effects of having Klinefelter syndrome:

Surprisingly, testosterone levels were not associated with these psychological and social health measures, even though low testosterone has been widely believed to underlie many of these symptoms. “Based on this finding, it is not clear that the testosterone therapy commonly given during puberty will remedy many of the problems that children with Klinefelter syndrome experience,” says Dr. Fennoy.

Whether hormonal therapy plays a role during development or not, the researchers emphasize that early intervention to address psychosocial health risks will help patients and their families manage some of the chronic aspects of Klinefelter syndrome.

If you have the feeling there is more to you than low testosterone values and associated infertility, go to a psychiatrist or psychologist.

When people with 47,XXY are bullied in school, physical appearance may be the cause (weak muscles, body composition, breast development, shame having a shower or in the changing room) but also autistic behavior (difficulties with coordination, shyness, bluntness, naivety, imitating others, isolation and more prone to be a victim). Please take care of your children not to be in agony throughout their school time! They will suffer from bullying, post-traumatic anxiety and depression also throughout their lifetime.

It’s essential to inform your environment and the relative’s environment about 47,XXY. If physical symptomes are merely present but behaviorial symptomes are more obvious, it probably makes no sense to hold a long talk about Klinefelter syndrome. A lot of people who are not familiar with Klinefelter may conclude that Klinefelter is equivalent for hormone deficit, needs hormone therapy and subsequent all deficits will be cured. Then it’s possibly more senseful to inform about the secondary diagnose. The genetic reason is rather interesting for academics.

Draw your information and guidelines from concerned people themselves! I linked numberous autistic bloggers in my blog writing about their life and everydaylife with autism. Be skeptical when doubtful things arise like cure of autism with helpf of diets, glute-free food, homeopathy, MMS, etc. A great majority of enlightened people with autism rejects ABA and Autism-Speaks.

Read and spread the word for N#MBER! Diagnosed 47,XXY could be helped with additional diagnoses addressing their psychosocial health. Diagnosed people with autism and/or ADHD might have a genetic underpinning of their presumed primary diagnose. It doesn’t mean that the diagnose is wrong but physical health may also play a role, like enhanced risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, autoimmune disorders, and cancer.

Furthermore, when analyzing results of the SRS, girls were found to have more difficulty with comprehending social cues, such as understanding the tones or facial expressions of others, understanding jokes or idioms and how to engage in a two-way conversation. Boys were found to have deficits in those domains as well as in the realm of repetitive and self-stimulatory behaviors, such as hand flapping, body rocking or scripted talk. (Quelle)

In contrast, visiospatial function and performance IQ seem to be unaffected. (1)

There is a charateristic personality profile of XXY people, displaying a higher level of neuroticism (emotional instability) and lower levels of extraversion, openness to experience and conscientiousness.

XXY is often associated with increased level of psychological distress. Higher levels of emotional instability contribute to increased risk of depression and anxiety.

Brain differences

Global brain volume, total brain volume, total gray and white matter volumes were found to be significantly smaller in XXY.

Volumes of temporal lobe, hippocampus and amygdala were also smaller.

All studies except one didn’t find any correlation between cognitive performance scores and brain volumes.

It is assumed that microchanges of brain structures are more important.

Van Rijn examined the brain activity during social judgements of faces and found that XXY people had decreased activity in brain regions related to face processing (inferior temporal regions) and to the limbic system (amygdala, insula). Two other studies found that decreased language activation and/or decreased language lateralization in the posterior temporal language regions were present.

There is still uncertainty about the exact mechanisms of parental origin of the extra X chromsoome, X-chromosome inactivation and androgen recepter CAG repeat length.

If the social and economic background is taken into account, the risk is generally reduced.

XXY are relatively seldom diagnosed…. There are long delays and frequent-false negatives. Only about 25 % are diagnosed, and the majority has to wait until adulthood.

Several problems follow:

1. all current XXY studies may have selection bias and the present knowledge may not cover the undiagnosed cases.

2. 90 % of XXY remain undiagnosed until after 15 years of age, missing an important window of opportunity for correcting or alleviating the symptoms

3. we should change our current diagnostic strategy and introduce a new one, diagnosing XXY on blood from neonatal heel prick test (Guthrie test).

Early diagnosis would improve

cognitive functions, learning, verbal abilities and behavior, if it turns out that early testosterone supplementation is efficient, and that neuropsychological intervention before puberty is effective.(4)

the unhealthy body composition, with increased risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome seen in adulthood, as well as bone structure.

Future:

Studies are currently missing focusing on proper treatment or intervention to better the phenotype.

neurocognitive deficits, linked to dyslexia and other learning-related problems, may well lead to poor socioal and economic outcome.

A holistic approach is needed.

Conclusion:

The neurocognitive phenotype of Klinefelter syndrome is clearly abnormal (5) and the need for psychological and cognitive treatment in many cases is evident.

*

Remarks on statements:

(1) „visiospatial function“ seems to be unaffected. Studies by Jay Giedd show that visual and spatial thinking of XXY people are actually a strength of their thinking architecture. So, visiospatial function isn’t only normal but better pronounced. A lot of XXY people have a good visual memory.

(2) The social environment and intervention is very important. In countries and regions with poor density of experienced specialists, therapeutic outcome will be probably less satisfying, and increasing age could strengthen depressive mood and anxiety.

(3) The enhanced risk to commit crimes of sexual abuse [and arson] could probably be related to inappropriate testosterone supplement therapy. Overdosing testosterone might enhance emotional instability and overemphasize masculine behavior of males. It would be interesting to know whether the participants were already taking testosterone supplements and whether on a daily basis (self-medication) or in larger intervals (injections).

(4) It is important to emphasize that testosterone supplement is neither a one-cure-for-everything therapy nor necessarily suited for all children and adolescents. See additional remarks.

(5) The neurocognitive phenotype of Klinefelter syndrome is clearly DIFFERENT.

Additional remarks:

1. Though I know that science in genetics and behavior usually concentrates on deficit thinking in genetic anomalies, it would be helpful for us affected persons to highlight strengths and positive outcome. Anecdotal descriptions reveal enhanced sense of creativity, sensitivity, social justice, honesty, enhanced detail perception, good visual memory/long-term memory, good with animals.

2. In the vast majority of these studies and papers, the term „men or boys with Klinefelter syndrome“ is used, neglecting a minority of XXY people who do not identify as men, for different reasons… Either there are born intersex, or born as transgender preferring to transition into female later as a teenager or adult. Some identify as male but don’t feel well with masculinization through testosterone supplement therapy, either. A few XXY are also reported to have androgen insensitivity syndrome and testosterone therapy will probably not work for them.

One of the most difficult and heavily discussed topics in the XXY community is whether early intervention with testosterone therapy is a benefit for all XXY children, as transgender or persons who don’t want to be masculinized may not be suited to receive additional testosterone or even require estrogen therapy instead. In these cases, the term Klinefelter’s syndrome referring to hypogonadism (testosterone deficit) doesn not seem to be appropriate.

I hope we – as XXY community and individuals – are able to convince the scientific community to put more focus on gender identity in XXY before recommending one-size-fit-all-cures for young XXY.

3. I missed some lines about sensory processing disorder. There is only one study about that:

Anecdotal evidence is furthermore given about enhanced sensitivity to sensory stimuli like noise, light, motions, smell/taste and touch suggesting a crucial commonality with autism spectrum conditions. One should probably think of XXY as possible specific subtype of the large autism landscape.

I don’t want to spread clichés, so please correct me if I’m wrong. However, if I look at the institutionalized structures, support groups and further advice for people with disabilites in general, also referring to the Disability Act guranteeing the rights of disabled people, there are much better conditions in the United States than in Europe. In Europe, the fundamental rights are presented in the constitution law and in the declaration of human rights. There is also a UN convention concerning people with disabilities which was signed by the Austrian Government in 2008. Anyway, Europe is obliged to treat these people in a similar way like in the USA:

Believe in your strengths and doubt your weaknesses, otherwise they will win.

If you invest in strengths, the weaknesses can be overcome. It’s benefit thinking, not deficit thinking. In Europe, especially in Austria (not to speak from countries in eastern Europe …), people with disabilities are seen as disability instead of benefitting from their strengths. Companies prefer buying themselves free instead of employing a person with a disability. There is too much prejudice and probably thinking in terms of „how much does it cost to modify the working place“ or taking special care of that person. They are seen as ballast and talents and special interests could be easily overlooked.

To my current knowledge, picture of autism in the USA is quite different from UK, Germany or Austria, except for some positive exceptions like companies who employ especially autists to benefit from their computer abilities or general ability to focus on their special interest in a very rigide way; which could be seen also critical as stereotypic picture of autists as computer nerds could be reinforced. Otherwise, numbers are disastrous concerning unemployment. Probably 80 % of Germans within the autistic spectrum are without job, about 40 % for a longer time, in UK only 15 % have a full-time job, some references in Austria even say nearly 100 % are unemployed. What a waste of talent!

As an autist you could have a great knowledge in your special interest, enhanced perception of details which could be used for detecting mistakes and many of them are also visual thinkers or good in expressing themselves in a written form. I can’t list all the advantages people in autism spectrum have – there are better resources than me, e.g. Temple Grandin, Rudy Simone or numberous blogs from autists all over the world who show you their ability. Tony Attwood, e.g., made a list of positive traits and characteristics of autism.

Main problem is however that talent and knowledge could be overwhelming but bad communication skills tend to be present in the foreground and overlap the better skills. And that’s also true for some Klinefelter’s though unemployment rate appears to be not such high as with idiopathic autists. However, irrespective of the underlying mechanisms and resulting diagnosis – if you have difficulties with social communication and interaction, people will likely underestimate your potential.

I really like Christopher Nolans ‚Batman trilogy‘, I could watch it every week, and I especially like the first part.

But it’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you.

Though I’m inclined to agree with that statement, it’s appears in another light if you look at in the perspective of someone with impaired social skills. It’s his behaviour surprising, confusing the employer and will likely turn him into rejecting the respective person. He could have good skills in his area of expertise but he will be unable to sell well in front of colleagues and bosses.

Here is the point where the diagnosis fits in, now with focus on Klinefelter’s syndrome and especially these ones fulfilling many but probably not all autism criteria. The child, adolescent or adult within Klinefelter’s spectrum could have nearly the same difficulties in social communication and interaction like the child, adolescent or adult diagnosed with autism spectrum condition. However, there is not any handbook or advice for Klinefelter’s children and as long as they don’t let them be diagnosed with autism as well, they will not obtain respective support.

For an adult with Klinefelter’s syndrome revealing the same symptomes like Asperger’s syndrome, it plays a subdominant role whether childhood fits into the clinical picture of Asperger’s. It’s more an academical question if classic autistic traits could be observed. The adult wants to know how to manage current life, in the 40s or 50s. Most of the research deals with children and adolescents, not with adults, unfortunately, and there is little known about the effects of testosterone therapy on adults starting in adulthood, with respect to the behaviour. Most of the testosterone benefits do not affect the diagnose criteria for autism though improving relationship to peers was observed in studies. Bad communication skills could probably endure the therapy and maybe still present after years of testosterone substitution. Moreover, sensory integration disorder is also present with Klinefelter’s and could affect the working environment in a class room or office, too.

So there are two ways to obtain support for men with Klinefelter’s syndrome.

Either Klinefelter’s are generally tested for autism (and ADHD though the majority will obtain ADD, if present) and further strategy is to follow the approach for autists …

or we need just similar structures like in USA, with detailed descriptions of behavioral and sensory issues which are probably not related to testosterone deficit, and subsequent guidelines how to make things easier for concerned persons in school, at university, on the job and in everydaylife.

As long as we do not have these structures, there will be frustrated some, not all men with Klinefelter’s who suffer from many similar difficulties like people with autism but they just have the „wrong“ name of their diagnosis and will be misunderstood or even ignored.

People with autism and Klinefelter’s syndrome share two of the main criteria for autism: They tend to avoid eye contact and suffer from enhanced sensitivity to sounds, movements or touch, but could also benefit from their enhanced detail perception and ability to focus on their special interest.

Of course, there are differences, e.g. in brain architecture, but as already mentioned, from a current point of view, it only plays an academical role and is not an excluding criteria for autism, as long as it is not proven that testosterone could cure all autistic-like traits in Klinefelter’s spectrum.

Just to sum up a bit:

I strongly recommend to believe in your strengths. It does not make sense to solely focus on your weakness.

Good communication skills are important but should not distract from a person’s talent. For communication, you always need two persons. Use your language as precise as possible. Don’t be upset if opinions are expressed in a direct and honest way. Smalltalk and wrapping criticism in a smooth way are probably not our best skills.

We need a better understanding of what Klinefelter’s syndrome comprises with respect to sensory and behavioural effects which are not covered by testosterone therapy itself. As a result, we could develop similar structures and guaranteed rights for Klinefelter men, too.

Long way to go but avoiding a long rocky path will continue status quo which is – in my opinion – not satisfying. And aside from Klinefelter’s syndrome, prejudice is also given for ADHD and autism. We are all in the same boat.